About Me

Although I haven't gotten a western made yet, there's interest in a western series I've created (on paper). If you'd like to take a look at the sort of things I write, please visit my website, www.henrycparke.com. Thanks for looking!

MY Q&A WITH INSP-TV

HENRY ON ‘WRITER’S BLOCK’

On July 30th, 2015, I was the guest of hosts Bobbi Jean Bell and Jim Christina on ‘Writer’s Block’, their L.A. TALK-RADIO talk-show about the art and craft of writing. You can click PLAY to hear it, or DOWNLOAD to download it.

ROUND-UP ON THE RADIO!

Last Christmastime I was a guest on AROUND THE BARN, and had a great time talking about the Round-up, my writing, and Gene Autry’s Christmas music. To listen, click HERE.

Other Stuff I Write

While this blog is strictly about Western stuff, I also write another blog, Stalling Tactics, which is about anything else. If you'd like to read my most recent post, COSTUME DRAMA TRAUMA, go HERE.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

SORBO CASTS LONG 'SHADOW ON THE MESA'

Updated 3/19/2013

KEVIN SORBO INTERVIEW

On Saturday night, March 23rd, a new Western
movie, SHADOW ON THE MESA, will premiere on Hallmark
Movie Channel.Starring Kevin Sorbo,
Wes Brown, Gail O’Grady, Shannon Lucio, Greg Evigan, Meredith Baxter and Barry
Corbin, it’s written by Lee Martin, and directed by David H. Cass Sr.I recently had a chance to talk with Kevin
Sorbo about MESA, Westerns in general, and the role that made him an
international star, HERCULES.

HENRY:How did a Minnesota
boy become an international star by way of New Zealand?

KEVIN:(Laughs) It
was written in the stars since I was eleven years old.I told my parents I was going to be an
actor.I set that course at a very young
age, came out to L. A. not knowing a soul, and I’m a thirteen year overnight
success.

Henry:How did you
get cast as Hercules?

KEVIN:Typical
audition, like anything else.Your agent
gets a breakdown, says we’re looking for these types of guys to do some movies
in New Zealand.I went to audition, then
they called me back a second time, then a third time, a fourth time; over two
months they called me back seven times.They looked at over 2,800 people in North America.I got the gig!Originally it was going to be five two-hour
movies down there, and I knew by the second movie that they were going to make
it a series.Just had a gut feeling that
we had something that people were going to love.Sure enough, they told us by the third movie
that it was going to be a series. I did
seven years, and we ended up passing BAYWATCH as the most watched show in the
world.

Kevin Sorbo as HERCULES

HENRY:Outstanding.

KEVIN:Pretty
cool.We shot from 1993 through 1999, and
most of my crew went on to work on LORD OF THE RINGS when we finished shooting.

HENRY: I knew New Zealand
was a great location for that kind of work, but I did not know that it was the
same crew.

KEVIN:Yeah, Peter
Jackson was coming to the set pretty much every year to see what was going on,
kind of look at the progress of the crew.Because initially we had a handful of people, heads of departments, who
knew what they were doing, had done some things before, but things were pretty
green down there at the time we started.Peter Jackson said, if it wasn’t for HERCULES, we wouldn’t have the
crews we have today.We were a great training
ground for them.Great training ground
for me.

HENRY:What did you
like most about doing the series?

KEVIN:I loved it – I
loved the humor of the show, I loved doing the fight scenes – I’m an ex-jock,
played football, basketball, baseball, all sports, and to me it was just all
part of working out – doing all these fight-scenes and stuff was a blast.I learned a lot about martial arts, and I’m
the first to admit that if a real black-belt came up to me I’d get my butt
kicked, but I got good at fakin’ it.I
had a great time doing it with my crew, and I still keep in touch with a lot of
the guys in the stunt team.And Michael
Hurst, who played Iolaus, we get a hold of each other once a month to catch up
on life.It was just a blast; it was a
wonderful chapter in my life, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

HENRY:Was there any
downside, anything you liked least about it?

KEVIN:I guess
sometimes the distance.But you know,
when I went down there, I was not an attached person, and I wanted a career and
I loved the show.I can’t really say I
got home-sick.I got bummed out once the
show became a major success, and I started getting invited to every major party
in Hollywood, and I could never go, so being 7,000 miles away in New Zealand
was kind of a drag.But I had a great time
there.Wonderful people. I’m a very outdoorsy kind of guy, and it was a
good lifestyle.

HENRY:There’s a lot
of humor in your work, a tongue-in-cheek feel.

KEVIN:I threw that
stuff in on HERCULES early.I started
ad-libbing little one-liners at the end of each scene.It wasn’t to piss the writers off.I didn’t want to take anything away; I left
it where they could take it out of they wanted to.But they loved it, and Sam Raimi, who was our
executive producer, that’s his style from THE EVIL DEAD and that type of
thing.He started telling the writers to
throw that stuff in.You couldn’t take
HERCULES seriously; you had to have people laughing with us, not at us.And I think that was a part of the charm of
the show.When I do these autograph shows
– I get invited all over the world, and I pick three or four to do a year –
everybody at the Q&A says it looks like you guys had a lot of fun, and we
did.

HENRY:When the 111 episodes
and half-dozen movies were over, did you want it to go on, or were you happy to
let the character go at that point?

KEVIN:I was ready to
move on to something else.Universal Studios offered a three-year extension,
but at the same time I got a phone call from Majel Roddenberry.I was a big STAR TREK fan, so I was flattered
that she called to tell me about a project her husband wrote after the original
STAR TREK series finished in 1969.She
said, “I think Gene would want you to be Captain Dylan Hunt.” And like I say, I’m kind of a geek Trekkie in that way.They gave me a two-year guarantee, and shoot
in Vancouver, which I love as well, and you know, I wanted to do something
different.I didn’t want to become the
Gilligan of my series, and never get any work again (laughs), so I had a nice
five-year run on ANDROMEDA, too.

In ANDROMEDA

HENRY:So the fact
that it was created by Gene Roddenberry was a big attraction for you.

KEVIN:Oh, no
question.I went to his house in Bel
Air, that Majel had kept – she’s passed away too, five years ago.They kept his office the same way it was when
he passed away in the early nineties.Saw his desk, saw his papers there, and it was pretty cool.There are a lot of Trekkie out there who
would pay a lot to do what I did.

HENRY:While HERCULES
was mostly outdoor action, ANDROMEDA was more soundstage-bound and often very
intellectual ideas.Did you prefer one
over the other?

KEVIN:I have to give
HERCULES the nod because that’s where I got my break – that’s where it started
for me.Both series are still airing in
about a hundred countries around the world.It’s been interesting with HERCULES because it came out on Netflix a
couple of years ago, and Hub TV, and all of sudden I’m getting these
under-eighteen-year-olds coming up to me, who were too young when the series
finished.And now they’re watching
it.So this whole reprisal of the show’s
going on.And finally the Tribune
Company came out of bankruptcy, so now ANDROMEDA’s going to be on Netflix soon
as well, and that’s going to get another run going, too.

HENRY:You’ve worked
a lot in Canada, and New Zealand, and the United States.How do the countries compare?

KEVIN:It’s funny,
because I’ve been very fortunate to get the work that I’ve had.But every time I work, I never work in
California.It’s very rare – I’ve done a
lot of guest spots on sitcoms and they shoot here obviously, but for the most
part I always shoot somewhere else.Last
year alone, I shot in Louisiana couple times, shot in Canada again. There would
be just a little cultural differences.But for the most part the crews, they all work hard, they’re all there
to make something good, and have a good time.And I like to have fun.You’re
working long days; let’s make something that people can enjoy, have a good time
on the set, and not get all crazy with each other and cause tension.

HENRY:As far as I
know, 2007’s AVENGING ANGEL was your first western –

In AVENGING ANGEL

KEVIN:Yup.

HENRY: – where you’re
playing a preacher-turned-bounty-hunter.You followed a year later with PRAIRIE FEVER, with Lance Henriksen and
Dominique Swain.Now you’ve done your
third western, SHADOW ON THE MESA.What
keeps bringing you back to the western form?

KEVIN:I love
‘em.I’ve got about six scripts that
we’re trying to finance right now that are all westerns.I think a lot of it had to do with my father,
growing up as a kid watching the re-runs of GUNSMOKE, BONANZA, and all that
stuff, so it’s sort of ingrained in me.We romanticize about that, I guess.There’s something amazing about the people that came out west, back in
the 1800s.I’m sure it was pretty
brutal; (laughs) I’m sure they were all pretty stinky, but there’s just
something about it that I think we all love.I mean, after I shot AVENGING ANGEL I told Robert Duvall that I just
shot my first western. He looked at me and said, “It’s the best thing, isn’t
it?Every actor wants to do a western.”And I think there’s a lot of truth in
it.There’s something wonderful about
them – like I said, I’ve got all these other scripts we’re trying to raise
money for now.I wish I could have done
more.Hallmark’s just the only one that
keeps that genre alive.

HENRY:I was just
writing in the Round-up that there’s no one else you can point to and say
they’ve made four westerns in the last year except Hallmark.

KEVIN:There is the
occasional feature that comes out, obviously, but they’re the ones who keep it going,
and the biggest problem, they say, is it doesn’t translate well overseas for
some reason, but I still love doing them; I hope we can keep on making
them.

HENRY:The irony is
that for years, overseas was the guaranteed box office for westerns, and that
seems to have dried up.Of course you
did a lot of horseback riding as Hercules, before you became an official
cowboy.Were there any skills you had to
learn, to do westerns convincingly?

KEVIN:The whole gun
action – which was fun.Go to a range,
shooting – I can see why people get hooked on it.I wish I could have rode some more on this
last one, SHADOW ON THE MESA.I didn’t
ride; the whole back-story on my character is that he broke his leg on a young
horse he was trying to break.The only
time I didn’t get to ride a horse was on this one.

HENRY:They’ll have
to get you on two horses in the next one.Now all three of your westerns have been directed by stuntman-turned-director
David S. Cass, Sr.Does he bring
something special to the genre?

KEVIN:David’s been
around, you know.All the stunts he did
with Mitchum and Wayne; he’s got some great tales.He knows what he wants; he’s very
creative.And obviously he’s learned his
trade from other directors as a young buck, being on the set, throwing himself
around, and getting beat up.He’s used
his training well.I love Dave; we have
a great camaraderie together.He’s easy
to work for, and he knows that I’m going to come prepared, that I’m willing to
take chances as well.

HENRY:We touched a little
on the fact that you grew up watching westerns with your dad.Did you have particular favorites as a kid?

KEVIN:You know, I’m
a Clint Eastwood guy; I love Clint.I’m
very fortunate that over the last few years I’ve gotten to golf with him a few
times, got to know him a little better; we’ve attended a few events
together.You look at HIGH PLAINS
DRIFTER and all the Sergio Leone stuff.He goes there (to Europe) and does those westerns that nobody said would
do anything, and they became like the biggest westerns of all time.And I like the Trinity guys, too, Terence
Hill, Bud Spencer.Love those things;
totally crack me up.

In SHADOW ON THE MESA

HENRY:How about your
favorite westerns as an adult; is it a new list, or is it the same group?

KEVIN:Probably the
same group.There are some good ones out
there.That one with Russell Crowe, 3:10
TO YUMA – I liked that one.I enjoyed
that one a lot.But still, if I’m flipping
channels and HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER is on or OUTLAW JOSEY WALES, I’ll stop and
watch the rest of it, even though I’ve seen it twenty times.

HENRY:And of course
he’s so good not only as an actor, but as an actor-director.

KEVIN:I’ve told him,
because we know each other now.I’ve
said, “Clint, if it’s one line, I don’t care.I want to work with you one time.Just want to be on the set, to say I’ve worked with Clint Eastwood.So c’mon, throw me a bone!”

Kevin with Shannon Lucio as his daughter

HENRY:What western
stars of the past do you connect with?Do you see a Glenn Ford or a Randolph Scott role and say, I’d like to
play that?

KEVIN:I like Gary
Cooper.I think my acting style is similar to his in a
way.I just like the way he carries
himself, and I’ve had other people tell me that in the past.I grew up watching movies with my mom and
dad, and Gary Cooper is one of the stars we watched a lot.I’m a big fan of Cary Grant.And Jimmy Stewart – I love his stuff.BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID – I’m a
huge fan of Robert Redford and Paul Newman; that’s really what kind of put it
over the top for me to want to be an actor.

HENRY:Tell me a bit
about SHADOW IN THE MESA, and your role in it.

KEVIN:Well, my
character is a solid man; typical of a lot of westerns, these strong, silent
types.He doesn’t mince words.He finds out he’s got this son that he never knew
he had, and the son is pretty much coming to assassinate him.He’s played by Wes Brown, and we had a really
good camaraderie – I really liked working with him.He’s an up-and-coming kid; he’s a good
actor.And my character, he’s going
through a lot of stuff – all the things country songs are written of, except
the dog doesn’t die.

Shannon Lucio and Wes Brown

HENRY:I’ve read the
synopsis, but not seen it yet.But the
plot is a lot more complex than westerns typically are.There were turns in the story that I didn’t
see coming.It’s a nice piece of work –
at least on paper.

KEVIN:It is.I think it turned out well.

HENRY:Now your
in-laws are Meredith Baxter and Barry Corbin – a very talented pair.Barry’s someone who always seems to fit
perfectly in westerns. What’s he like?

Meredith Baxter and Barry Corbin

KEVIN:Here’s the
funny thing: I never got to work with either of them.We never even saw each other on the set.I worked with Gail O’Grady and Greg Evigan.

HENRY:Well, tell me
about Gail and Greg.

Gail O'Grady

KEVIN:Well, Gail
I’ve known for a long time, and it was great to work with her – we actually did
a TWO AND A HALF MEN together years ago; she played my ex-wife in that
one.She’s a hoot, she’s funny.She’s a beautiful girl with a trucker’s mouth
on her.And Greg was just a class
act.A nice guy, we’d never met before.He played the guy who was my arch enemy.And we didn’t get to work too much together
either.We were two days on the set together,
but our scenes were pretty much at a distance, shooting at each other! (Laughs)

Greg Evigan

HENRY:So you’d make
more westerns if you had a chance to?

KEVIN:In a
heartbeat.I’ve got a wonderful script
called TRANQUILITY; we’ve got Dwight Yoakam and Ann Margaret attached.So hopefully we can make this thing.

HENRY:Am I allowed
to mention that?

KEVIN:Sure; tell ‘em
we’re looking for investors!It may be a
little too dark for Hallmark, which
is may be why they passed on it.They
like a little more ‘blue sky’ type of stuff, which is fine, but this has a very
interesting story to it.

HENRY:To switch to a
much more serious topic, tell me about FDR: AMERICAN BADASS!

Channeling Daniel Day-Lewis in

FDR: AMERICAN BADASS!

KEVIN: Well, I did a
movie with these guys (director Garrett Brawith and writer Ross Patterson) the
year before that.It was called POOL
BOY: DROWNING OUT THE FURY, which I starred in.They called me up and said, look, we have this cameo role with you as
Abe Lincoln, do you want to do this?I
read this script and laughed and said yes.Barry Bostwick plays FDR, and I get him stoned.

HENRY:All this stuff
that Daniel Day-Lewis left out!

KEVIN:I love doing
it – I’m a big David Zucker fan as well, and I got to do a cameo in one of his
films, AMERICAN CAROL.I love AIRPLANE,
NAKED GUN, all of that.That sophomoric,
stupid humor, it’s just fun to do.We’ve
got another one coming with the same group, where I’m going to have second
lead, to a woman.We don’t know who the actress
is going to be, but it’s going to be Helen Keller’s life story, and she was
really a spy, and a kick-ass spy at that, and I’m her sidekick.

HENRY:What else are
you up to?

KEVIN:I’d love to
throw a nod to a movie of mine that’s out right now, called ABEL’S FIELD.It’s from New
Sony Studios, they’re the same division that I did SOUL SURFER with.It’s a modern-day Cain and Abel-meets-FRIDAY
NIGHT LIGHTS.We shot it in Austin,
Texas.It’s a wonderful family movie.You go
to http://www.abelsfield.com/
for a trailer on that.And my book just
came out in paperback.It’s called TRUE
STRENGTH, you can go to http://truestrengthbook.com/
.It’s a little bit of my life story. When
going through the HERCULES years, between season five and six, I had an
aneurism that caused three strokes.Universal kept it very quiet because
HERCULES was doing quite well for them.But I went through four months of re-hab; learned to walk again.Two strokes went to my balance; one stroke
went to my vision.The last two years on
HERCULES were pretty tough for me.I
went from fourteen-hour work-days to one hour, then worked it up to two hours a
month later, then three hours, and slowly worked my way back.They did a lot of stunt casting and a lot of
clip shows to keep the show alive.It
wasn’t fun; and I’ve been doing a lot of speaking at neurological institutions,
hospitals and bookstores.It’s been
pretty amazing to see people’s response, because it’s about triumph over
tragedy, and how you get through things that throw that curve-ball at you in
life.And GOD’S NOT DEAD comes out in
theatres this fall.Same people I did a
movie called WHAT IF… with.So you
should mark that down – WHAT IF… is a good movie.Very proud of that movie; shot that with
Kristy Swanson, John Ratzenberger.And
Debby Ryan plays my daughter – she’s on the Disney
Channel.

ENNIO MORRICONE ON QUENTIN TARANTINO: 'NEVER AGAIN!'

Ennio Morricone, composer of more than 500 film scores, startled
students in a music, film and
television class at Rome’s LUISS University by announcing that he would never
work with DJANGO UNCHAINED director again.According to the Hollywood Reporter, the composer elaborated.“I wouldn’t like to work with him again, on
anything.He said last year he wanted to
work with me again ever since Inglourious Basterds, but I told him I
couldn't, because he didn’t give me enough time. So he just used a song I had
written previously.”

Morricone complained that Tarantino “…places music in his films without
coherence.You can't do anything with
someone like that."While four
pieces of Morricone music are used in DJANGO UNCHAINED, all were composed for
previous films.

SUNDAY AND MONDAY ONLY -- NEW WESTERN E-BOOK SERIES –‘COLBY JACKSON’ – INTRODUCED WITH FREE KINDLE DOWNLOAD!

The smell of black powder will fill the air
at 3 pm Saturday, March 23rd, when the deadly CAMPO GUNFIGHT of 1875 is
reenacted at the Golden Acorn Casino in Campo, the bordertown near San Diego where
it actually happened.The event is free,
and it should be a lot of fun.The man
behind the event is Bryon Harrington, author of CAMPO: THE FORGOTTEN GUNFIGHT,
and he is a stickler for historical accuracy.To learn more about the event, go HERE. To learn more about Bryon's book, go HERE.

HEY ROUNDERS, that's gonna have to be all for tonight's Round-up! I know I told you that I'd also have an on-set report on QUICK DRAW, but I didn't expect for my computer to be down for three days this week, so that'll have to wait until next week. Hope you're having a great St. Patrick's Day!

Happy Trails,

Henry

All Contents Copyright March 2013 by Henry C. Parke -- All Rights Reserved

16 comments:

I Just saw "Shadow On The Mesa" and enjoyed the film. I was wondering if you knew if the film is based on a book or maybe a series of books? And if so who is the author of the books or books. Also where can I purchase the book or books. Thank you for your time.

Hi, to Kevin and to all your readers. I'm the original screenwriter of SHADOW ON THE MESA.. I based my screenplay on one of my unpublished novels. The novel is now being read and hopefully it will sell. It will have a lot more detail along with more than one romance. I had 17 Western novels published, and I believe they are still in libraries and/or at Amazon. The movie has just won the 2013 Wrangler Award given by the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum (Ok.City) for the best Western television movie. The movie was also the 2nd most watched and 2nd highest rated original movie in Hallmark Movie Channel's network history. I could not be more proud of what David Cass, Lincoln Lageson, Kevin and all the fine actors, along with a great crew, accomplished with this movie. The jail escape is a classic. Best, Lee Martin

I'm the screenwriter for SHADOW ON THE MESA. I met Kevin Sorbo on the set. Recent contact with him confirms he is a real gentleman, has a good heart and knows the business. A good family man. He's one of the best so enjoy him on the screen.Lee Martin

Hi, everyone, I just read this Kevin Sorbo interview. Enjoyed it very much. I can tell you that Shadow on the Mesa is one of my husband's and my FAVORITE westerns. The screenwriter, Lee Martin, is so talented and we are so hoping that a sequel will be written to "Shadow". The story, in our opinion, SCREAMS OUT for a sequel!! Watch this movie !! You'll love it!!

Hi, everyone, first, MOVIE GUIDE, a very important outfit for Christian content, has just given a wonderful review of SHADOW ON THE MESA. Second, please know that the disk being released December 17 will not have the music overpowering voices because that was a broadcast issue. the disk will be perfect. Best, Lee Martin, screenwriter.

Hi, everyone, the DVD for SHADOW ON THE MESA looks and sounds great. No music over powering the voices.My NOVEL, on which I based my screenplay, will be published by FIVE STAR PUBLISHING, slated for December, 2014 in hard cover. Advance ordering information will be forthcoming. The novel is the complete, original story and has more than one romance. It's a long way from novel to script to screen. Best, Lee Martin

Hi, from Lee Martin. SHADOW ON THE MESA DVD selling fast on AMAZON. I also received the catalog from Critics Choice Video which has it for sale as well. They are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 800 367-7765. Or at www.ccvideo.com

Hi Lee. Here's the link for the interview, which is within my review of SHADOW ON THE MESA:http://henryswesternroundup.blogspot.com/2013/11/john-fords-last-project-comanche.html. And let me apologize for making the wrong assumption that 'Lee', being a Western writer, would be a male. I will correct the erroneous pronouns tonight!